Over the past 11 years, there has been a rapid decline of leatherbacks from a population of about 1,350 female nesters per season to about 130-140 who have nested in the past 3 years. I plan to begin my paper with a description of the Leaterback's nesting behavior, the development and hatching of the eggs, Leatherbacks as adults, the reasons for their decline and what is being done to conserve this declining species to keep them from extinction.

I. Nesting Behavior A. How they pick a good nesting site B. Conditions of an ideal beach C. How the nest is built D. Process of laying the eggs

II. Development and Hatching A. Conditions needed to hatch B. Survival of the young turtles